Figures released by Ucas show that there has been a 9.9% drop in the number of English students applying to university for the next academic year, in which tuition fees will rise from around £3,000 a year to around £9,000 a year. It's hardly surprising that so many people have taken a look at the amount of debt they might be liable for and decided that university isn't for them. But when you look closer at the figures you can see that the ages of those forgoing university are worryingly skewed towards mature students. In virtually every age group of applicants aged over 21 we've seen a drop in numbers of over 10%; it's as large as 13.5% for 23-year-olds.

So who are mature students? They are aged over 21 when they start their course and account for almost a third of all students. Nearly three-quarters of them are under 35, they're more likely to be women and more likely than younger students to be studying vocational subjects. Mature students are a diverse group. They could be an unemployed person looking to re-skill and get back on the career ladder, a young person stuck in a dead-end job looking to change career, or someone who's made a good start and is looking to get the qualifications they need to progress. None are going back to education to "avoid the real world", as some critics claim. In fact, mature students are often more than aware how the real world works, and that's what worries me most about these figures.

I started my undergraduate degree in 2005 at the age of 44, no longer wanting to get by on incapacity benefit, as I had done for years since giving up running my own business because of chronic fatigue. I decided it was time to gain the skills I needed to get myself back in the workplace, in a job that I could cope with. I am now studying for a master's degree at Staffordshire University and beginning a professional career in photography.

For me, education has been the engine of social mobility, and it could be for many other people. If I'd been facing fees of £9,000 when I started, however, I would have been unable to take the gamble, making myself liable for potentially 30 years of repayments on a tuition fee loan. I would have seen that amount of debt as too big a barrier, no matter the repayment conditions, and not made the leap that I have now taken. I'd possibly still be on benefits and face having them taken away, with no new qualifications to help me make my way without them.

The shortsightedness and disjointedness is what most frustrates me about the government's policymaking, particularly in education. They are narrowing opportunities wherever you look: making it harder for someone with a disability to get by, but making it harder for us to get into a position to find a job that we can do. For anyone with existing financial commitments and families to think about, the idea of taking on thousands of pounds of debt is a huge risk; one that in such unpredictable times many feel unable to take.